The cave ahead of them lit up as pillars of white flame burst from cracks in the ground, geysers of white fire that licked the mossy ceiling above. Heat washed over him and he staggered back, but Hadley grabbed his shoulder and held him firm.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ Hadley said. ‘They sense your fear as hesitation. Hesitation begets evil.’

‘I don’t agree with that,’ Asher said.

‘Of course not, we’re human,’ Hadley said. ‘But these are simple beings of simple concepts. They are offering themselves because the natural order needs to be repaired, and that is your role to them. Hesitating means you don’t know if it needs to be repaired.’

‘But…’ Asher felt the tightness in his chest return. Teka had said something similar, that he needed to give some kind of oath, that he wasn’t a true witch until he did.

‘That is their reasoning,’ Hadley said. ‘You force it and they burn you. You turn away and they burn you. I see that you are afraid, and it’s far more complicated than that.’

Asher shook his head, not sure if it was a general refusal of all of this or if he needed to untangle his head. ‘I… I’m not a witch,’ he mumbled.

‘The last I saw you, you were in uniform,’ Hadley said. ‘You are a guard?’

The knot in his stomach tightened. ‘I’m not anymore.’

‘So you are not anything,’ Hadley said. ‘No wonder you’re afraid. It’s a terrible place to be.’

‘What am I supposed to be?’ Asher asked.

Hadley dropped down onto the steps, gesturing for him to follow. ‘I can’t answer that. Though, we have time while the magic leaves your system. Perhaps you can tell me.’

Asher dropped onto the step and ran his hands through his hair. ‘I don’t even know what’s real anymore.’

‘You do have one thing I don’t,’ Hadley said. ‘Someone who can answer questions.’

‘Are you offering to help me?’ Asher asked.

‘Of course,’ Hadley said. ‘I’ve been in your position, remember? Alone, afraid, but being the only witch left in the world, I didn’t have anyone to ask. I had to figure it out myself. I don’t see why I should force others to do the same.’

‘How did you figure it out?’ Asher asked. ‘Because none of this makes any sense to me.’

Hadley smiled. ‘One day at a time.’

‘Are you really the last witch left?’ Asher asked.

Hadley nodded. ‘I wasn’t sure until I came here. There’s so much to know if I explore the right places, and I have all the time in the world to do it. But yes, I am the last witch.’

‘How bad is that?’ Asher asked. ‘If magic causes corruption, then isn’t it possible that no magic means no corruption? No fienta, no Le Torkani, no…’ this was the same thing that justified killing them. The same path of logic that people were using to destroy everything.

‘The Gate will still exist; there’s no going back from that,’ Hadley said. ‘And you don’t have to be a witch to destroy the natural order of the world. Your adversary, who you angered back in Le Torkani, all he did was cut up people and stitch the pieces together. No magic required.’

‘So, what is true about being a witch?’ Asher asked. ‘Sara told me about how there are layers to magic, and there was this thing with a smoking bowl—’

‘I remember that one,’ Hadley said. ‘Yes, that’s still true. The natural order doesn’t demand we sacrifice ourselves. Giving life is not required to make the world turn. That is why we are brought here, or if it is used for evil, to Le Torkani. How far into the bowl did you reach?’

‘I didn’t even reach the rim,’ Asher mumbled. ‘What kind of witch can I be if I’m not even that strong?’

‘It’s not about strength,’ Hadley said. ‘That’s not what they want; that’s why they burn you.’ She tilted her head in question. ‘What brought you here? Why did you follow my birds?’

‘I just want to understand all of this,’ Asher mumbled. ‘But I don’t. I still don’t.’

‘Neither did I,’ Hadley said. ‘When I found out they were using our old courier office, I didn’t understand how any of it was different or wrong. I went with my instincts. I still don’t entirely get it. All I know is that the worlds are blending together under there, and it made it easy to reach you.’

‘You were trying to reach Sara?’ Asher asked.

‘I was trying to reach anyone,’ Hadley said. ‘But Sara is still willing to stand with me, and that means so much more than I can explain.’

‘She feels guilty,’ Asher mumbled. ‘She wishes she had gone with you.’

‘I wish she had too,’ Hadley said. ‘But I know why she didn’t. I know it was selfish of me to ask. We’re not supposed to sacrifice ourselves just to keep the world turning. I should have remembered that.’

‘Do you regret it?’ Asher asked.

‘No.’ Hadley’s answer was fast and sure. ‘No, I don’t. I know if I failed, the Gate would have opened and the disaster would have taken everything. Those bastards got exactly what they wanted; they wanted us dead and now there are none left. They should reap the consequences, but the world shouldn’t burn to make it happen.’

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Asher bit down on his lip, mulling over the words. He had, not five minutes ago, wanted Navarre to see the damage he had caused, what his actions had done to innocent people. ‘Dalvany was almost destroyed,’ he mumbled.

‘I know.’

‘So many people are hurt or dead, and so many more are trapped in Le Torkani¸ and they shouldn’t be there at all.’

‘I know that too.’ Hadley was watching him intently, as though waiting for him to notice a giant sign inches from his face. When he didn’t say anything, she nudged him with her shoulder. ‘If you weren’t a witch, if you weren’t even sier, and you found out what they were doing in those tunnels, would you have stopped them?’

‘I’d like to think I would,’ Asher mumbled. ‘But I know what it means. If I didn’t… maybe they could have convinced me. I don’t know. I can’t know.’

‘Such is the way of the world,’ Hadley said. ‘You know that so many people were hung just for protesting the actions. Most of them had no idea either.’

‘Even if I wasn’t a witch, they would kill me,’ Asher said. That was the fate waiting for him when he woke up from this place. If he woke up from this place.

‘But you aren’t a witch,’ Hadley pointed out. ‘You said that before.’

‘I…’

‘You use it synonymously with your knowledge of the bigger picture,’ Hadley said. ‘But seeing the threads that tie the world together doesn’t make you a witch.’ She smiled again. ‘I know how it is. It’s larger than you, larger than everything you know, and to ignore it is to pretend you’re not ablaze in the sun’s inferno.’

‘I just don’t want to give up part of myself,’ Asher mumbled. ‘It’s all I have left.’

‘Ah, but consider the alternative,’ Hadley said. ‘This is a part of you. You are only pushing back against the options your situation provides.’

‘Is that a fancy way of asking me if I might want this?’

‘No, but I will raise a similar question. What is your ultimate goal? Take everything you know, everything you have felt and all that you are running from. Why stay? Why continue to dig if you are only tearing yourself apart?’

‘I came to Dalvany to keep the peace,’ Asher said. Though he didn’t ever get around to doing that. Instead, he’d been running around in circles while everything descended into chaos, and he had felt powerless the whole time, felt useless. ‘I just wanted to help,’ he mumbled. ‘I lost my friend. So many people lost someone. Everyone was afraid, and I’ve never been more terrified, but there was nothing I could do, except give up myself and become something else.’

‘Give up what, exactly?’ Hadley asked.

Asher stared at her. It was hard to articulate what he really meant. He didn’t believe much in souls – at least, he didn’t think he did – but the thought that he wouldn’t control what he became, or lose control of his own actions in a way he didn’t see, that terrified him more than anything.

‘You are afraid of change,’ Hadley said. ‘Because it’s not a change that has already happened, but one you can see coming. You already have; you do see that right? Are you still the guard who came to Dalvany to keep the peace?’

‘That guard didn’t even think witches were real,’ Asher mumbled. Hadley chuckled, and Asher smiled despite himself.

‘Change is a part of things,’ Hadley said. ‘We just don’t notice it most of the time. We’ve gotten off track though. The real question is what you plan to do now.’

‘If that place keeps doing what it’s doing, the Gate is going to open,’ Asher said.

‘Yes. Soon, if my instincts are on track.’

‘People are going to get hurt.’

‘They’re going to die.’

Asher flinched. ‘There has to be something I can do to stop it.’

‘And if you can’t?’ Hadley asked.

‘I will,’ Asher pressed. ‘I just… don’t know how.’

‘Yes. You do.’

Asher turned to where the pillars of flame were still bursting out of the ground, a sporadic path of fire that left little room to avoid it.

‘All you need is the dust,’ Hadley said. ‘Would you be willing to reveal what you know about it to give others the same advantage?’

‘I…’ There were some he would trust if it came to that. People in town who weren’t trying to cause a panic. Sara, or Temperance, who already knew. Norrah, if she didn’t think he was completely insane. There was no telling if it would even work. If it was enough.

Maybe this was just a way to convince him to take this oath, to be a witch. The idea still terrified him, but now he wasn’t sure he knew what it even meant. A warden, protecting the border between worlds? Maybe, if he was strong enough. Someone who could see the spirits, who knew about them and the Nakati and the dust and the role it all played? That was already set in stone. He could always stay as he was, throwing rocks at monsters and stopping Penn from committing so many petty crimes. He wouldn’t ever go back to being a Lieutenant. He’d be lucky if he didn’t wake up in gallows or a prison cell. It was ironic in a way, that he had become a pariah of his old community, but still wanted to fall into that role so smoothly despite it all. In a sense, he was already there.

He was already there…

Asher slowly got to his feet, taking a careful step towards the nearest pillar of fire. Hadley caught his arm, pulling him to a stop. Again, the lines on her face creased, showing the fear that clearly still existed under the surface.

‘If this is your decision, then I respect it,’ she said. ‘But think about it. If you show them full loyalty, if you swear this, you will never go back.’

Asher’s stomach churned, but the sensation wasn’t as strong as it had been. ‘I already can’t turn back,’ he said.

Hadley recoiled, then a slow smile spread across her face. She released his arm. Asher felt the difference in balance, and it locked his legs in place.

‘How do I do this?’ he asked.

‘Accept that they’re not going to hurt you,’ Hadley said. ‘They’re coming into our world to help. Show them that you need their help.’ She chuckled at Asher’s confused expression. ‘Just relax. Tell yourself it’s not real fire.’

It’s not real fire. Asher turned and stepped off the last stair, the closest pillar now inches from his face. The heat seared at his skin, burning the end of his nose and making his eyes itch. He shut his eyes tight, pulling in a deep breath of air that flared through his throat. It’s not real, it’s not real.

Except it was. It was very real, and part of him had accepted that as soon as Sara and Gershwin told him how it worked. It hadn’t hurt him before, and there was no reason it would now. He remembered the first time he let the smoke run through his fingers, catching it against his skin, and tried to imagine this was the same again, that he was no better than a curious child sticking his hand in a hole.

Warmth enveloped his hand, and Asher’s eyes shot open. His entire forearm was sitting in the pillar, the flames licking at his coat and his hand, dancing around his skin, but there was no pain. His fingers buzzed, tingling with sharp little needles, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was the warmth of a freshly heated bath, or being under a down blanket after an intense day in the sun. Uncomfortable, but if he held it for long enough, he would stop noticing it.

A strange feeling washed over him, a calmness so overwhelming he questioned if he had ever felt true calm. He moved his hand around, curling and flexing his fingers in the flame, watching as the embers licked and flickered around the movements, dancing around them without a care in the world. He pulled his hand out and saw that now familiar sheen of dust coating his palm, shimmering in the light. There was no pain, no dizziness, no desire to throw up.

He turned back to Hadley, feeling a smile creep across his face. Only, the staircase was empty. The pillars of flame sizzled out in a blink, and before his smile could fade, the world plunged into blackness.